


Eight

by peoriapeoria



Series: Skein (vol. 3 of Fitter of the Species) [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28002429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: Eight very short subject works, set within the Fitter of the Species series.
Relationships: ensemble - Relationship
Series: Skein (vol. 3 of Fitter of the Species) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891396
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be posting the eight "chapters" on the installment plan. They'll be from various times within the larger story, but without needing much set up.

Down in the lab there was an area with a plexiglass panel and inset lighting, behind which were three Steve Rogers' original sketches, of Dum-e, U, and Butterfingers, each with a little etched plaque. The bots had been given these by Steve, drawing them as they assisted Tony. JARVIS had translated the images into machine language for the bots.

The gallery was low on the wall, such that Tony or Pepper had to crouch to view it. Pepper had been the one to requisition the plaques, laser cut and etched both, providing the subject names, date, artist and medium along with a code block above.

Sometimes the bots would arrange themselves so they were beside and below their portraits. Doing this had been Pepper's inspiration for the plaques. JARVIS had already arranged the rest to preserve the sketches from the workshop grime and grind.


	2. Chapter 2

Playing cards wouldn't have been what Steve would have expected after being surrounded in Times Square. Much of the 21st century was hard to anticipate. SHIELD's fall, maybe she should have seen that coming considering the nuke that Tony had to toss through the Chitauri tear over Manhattan.

Arnie and Michael hosted a friendly card group-- occasionally Scrabble came out and sometimes dominos were played but cards was the focus. They'd met back up for their mutual two month anniversaries at a deli Arnie and Michael favored and again for their five month. By that point the public knew Captain America hadn't been replaced but was the original article. Arnie had invited them to play cards, meet people.

Bruce was playing bridge at another table, while Steve played Rook with Dot, Mavis and Buster. Along with the cards Steve was dealt the small changes in Brooklyn. It made more sense at that speed, with the new beginnings as well as old endings.


	3. Chapter 3

"I need more pouting." Darcy snapped two more photos, pretty sure the camera was higher powered than most of Jane's New Mexico mobile lab.

"Which Angel am I supposed to be?" Sam leaned against Clint, looking at Darcy over his shoulder.

Clint had had the idea for this. Darcy took more photos as Barnes slid a side-eye to his co-conspiring models. Janet's ad campaign was great, but this was comedy gold. She just had to take the pictures, and Clint egged on the others into classic Charlie's Angels poses.


	4. Chapter 4

Pepper looked at her desk. It was still blank in the center, as she liked it, except for one tiny origami frog. She approached it carefully, as it was extremely small and people moving did generate currents of air.

When the first of the tokens appeared she'd considered Tony had found some bespoke gift service. It wasn't that Tony couldn't give with good consideration; trying too hard just came quickly and he had no filter. They, whether in small foil boxes or in printed bags, appeared however without the lockstep precision of a hired shopper. Also, only the most niche subscription would so focus on notions and stationary.

She gently slid a bookmark under the frog with her hand corralling from the other side. Pepper took it to a lidded glass award and situated it on a grosgrain lily pad that had been tucked in with a chocolate bar. She had obliquely consulted JARVIS, thereby removing Barnes' self-imposed restriction against food gifts. Lid back on, she started her CEO day.


	5. Chapter 5

Phil emptied his pockets into the dressing room tray. He'd had three cards pressed upon him, and had noticed being assessed in several window reflections.

"You ever going to call those numbers?" Clint was on the balcony.

Phil rubbed his forehead. "No. I don't seek these."

Clint climbed down on the hoist line. "Dancers need auditions." He kissed Phil on an eyebrow and picked up the cards, looking at them in turn. "Oh, nice. Where'd you get this one?" He turned it so Phil could read it, then flourished his hand holding it.

"The whole point shedding the suits was not being noticed. This never used to happen."

"Pretty sure Janet didn't promise invisibility, just not drawing the wrong attention." Clint pulled out a larger stack of business cards and dealt them out tarot style. "This looks interesting. Maybe Pepper knows what to do with troupers in search of a choreographer."

"What?"

Clint smiled. "Dressed like you make your own hours, moving the way you do? JARVIS, medley, please." Secret Agent Man, instrumental arrangement played subtly. "They aren't thinking Man in Black. Black Swan, maybe."

Phil pshawed the ballet reference. "Pepper?"

"It'd be a change from the Ironettes." Clint popped an unwrapped hard candy into his mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

Barnes reached the final page of the comic book and flipped it back to the beginning. History Illustrated was splashed across the cover, in a different 'face than once would have been the case, and the paper was as good as a real book, no funny pulp this.

The chop was different, though the G now reversed and the R were as he recalled. The S was entwined around the shared back of the other two letters, instead of them cascading in natural order as a chain within their rectangle.

It was a solid treatment of Hedy Lamarr; he was a little surprised Howard hadn't lucked onto her, though maybe that wasn't luck. The elder Stark had his hands in twice as much as any one man during the war and adding a beautiful divorcee--

"Steve." They'd worked out with JARVIS standard ways of going about 21st century things, like opening a call.

"Bucky?" Steve was at her table, doodling at one side with other work across.

"Comic book. How big a run?"

"Um, JARVIS, how many units?"

He tipped his head back. Legitimately, Steve didn't need to worry about it. They weren't who they were before the war. Still, there was a principle here.

JARVIS answered, and Barnes cut Steve some slack. Troop movements were less complicated. Freight logistics were less complicated. There were three separate versions, direct market, store distribution and scholastic. "Wow."

"What did you think?" Steve asked.

"When's the next one?


	7. Chapter 7

"That's a terrible idea." Bruce looked at Barnes, who was entirely too calm for having suggesting self-defense training.

"Is it? Wouldn't it be better if Hulk could let you pick up some of the self-preservation? If he didn't have to handle everything?"

Had Bucky been like this before the war? Bruce admitted it was possible. Steve had survived to Project Rebirth and her own recounts of his medical condition and how Bucky finished fights in practically every alley in Brooklyn-- "It's too dangerous."

"We'll start upstate, where there's plenty of room. I'm not saying sparring. Self-defense can be purely using others momentum against them."

Bruce shook his head. He understood the principle. He was a powder-keg.

"Though, maybe later in, yeah, that's sound." Barnes smiled.

"You're set on this." Bruce was going to ignore the baiting comment, though he was quite capable of filling in the dots.

"Yeah, I am. Wedding present."

"Okay. But you explain to Steve." Bruce watched Barnes face go slack only to smile brightly.


	8. Chapter 8

Natasha stirred the spoonful of jam into her tea. Her apartment here in the tower was unlike any she had kept previously. Quite simply, if it were breeched, anyone gaining intelligence wouldn't be an issue. This meant that while she did have a craft room, in which gun oil and magnifiers could be corralled and the surfaces were nonporous, she had decorated for her own delight.

Here, it was simple to fix a beverage, plate a nibble and sink into a comfortable position to enjoy them along with a book or music. She had places to watch the city when that appealed, which at times it did, at least parts of it. Otherwise, space was an expression of her wants, her taste.

She didn't have a kitchen. Natasha did have a sauna and luxurious bathing room. Her bedchamber was just that, with a small table and chair. Clothes and shoes had closets built in elsewhere, close to the dressing room.


End file.
